270 ratings | 223 reviews | avg rating:3.50

Shane’s Year In Books

Shane’s 2024 Year in Books

Take a look at Shane’s Year in Books, including some fun facts about their reading.

Go to Shane’s 2024 Year in Books

Shane Harrison’s Followers (7)

Shane’s Bookshelves

to-read (8)
currently-reading (1)
read (271)

Shane’s Friends (11)

Thomas

6,082 books | 3,395 friends

Carol (§CoverLoverGirl§)

4,403 books | 192 friends

Bridgette Daly

301 books | 54 friends

Anne Fitzgerald

592 books | 101 friends

Samantha James

50 books | 1,227 friends

Colin

290 books | 25 friends

Mark

329 books | 5 friends

Amye Quigley

1,488 books | 83 friends

More friends…

2025 Reading Challenge

2025

READING

CHALLENGE

Shane Harrison has read 25 books of their goal of 25!

100%

Shane Harrison

Goodreads Author

Born

Dublin, Ireland

Genre

Fiction

Member Since

August 2016

edit data

Shane Harrison worked for four years as an electrician and telephone installer before enrolling in the National College of Art and Design. After graduation in the early eighties he worked in advertising and television. His interest in writing led him to contribute articles and reviews to various magazines including Hot Press, Dublin Opinion and local publications such as the Wicklow Times and Bray Arts Journal. By the nineties, Harrison was writing fiction and his first book, a collection of short stories, Blues Before Dawn was published in 1993. A second collection, The Benefits of Tobacco, a novel, The Testimony of Virginia McCabe followed after the turn of the century, and his latest collection, Kings on the Roof, has just been published ...more

Learn more
Ask the Author

To ask Shane Harrison questions, please sign up.

Popular Answered Questions

I am currently reading The Testimony of Virginia Wade. I am a fan of the Western and I'm enjoying it, especially the first person female POV which is unusual. I wondered if your new collection includes anything in the Western vein?

Shane Harrison I'm glad your enjoying Virginia, Aidan. It's my only published novel (so far) and it is a Western, but I'd have to say it's a vein I haven't mined ext…moreI'm glad your enjoying Virginia, Aidan. It's my only published novel (so far) and it is a Western, but I'd have to say it's a vein I haven't mined extensively in my short stories. However, Kings on the Roof actually includes a Western Story: Cloud City. This is something of a time travel tale, or perhaps Slipstream is a better genre description. Cloud City begins in contemporary times, somewhere in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado, then tunnels back to post Goldrush days. A western within a western also occurs. The dime western the sheriff reads includes Kit Carson, a real life character, and a couple who feature in Virginia. The other stories in Kings are a varied bunch, but I'm hoping you give it a go. The Western theme, and the American continent, are places I want to return to in prose and in person. (less)

flag

1 like · like
1 comment

What mystery in your own life could be a plot for a book?

Shane Harrison It’s a scenario that every writer, or would-be writer, must consider. What mystery, or event, in your life could be a plot for a book? Like most write…moreIt’s a scenario that every writer, or would-be writer, must consider. What mystery, or event, in your life could be a plot for a book? Like most writers, I have culled from personal experience. Some do it more than others. There’s always the danger of falling into that less admired genre: a writer writing about a writer writing. But that is just the autobiographical watermark that haunts every page.

Is such writing the equivalent of the self portrait, with the author gazing at their own reflection? Or even a string of reflections stretching back in time. It’s a bit like those infinity mirror set ups. Flann O’Brien’s fictional philosopher, De Selby, proposed that each reflection was like a snapshot in time. He claimed that he could, with a telescope, make out a distant reflection of himself as a child, but couldn’t see further owing to the limitations of the telescope and the curvature of the earth.

I see Sally Rooney, having scored two bestsellers with musings on her own life, writes a third bestseller about a writer who has written two bestsellers. I’m something of the opposite. I may have written two novels but very few have read them. Perhaps that’s the mystery I should write about.

I have been writing non-fiction for most of the last few years. It gives me the chance to complete, or begin the jigsaw, or even glimpse the illustration on the box. But every so often I’m compelled to make something up. Will it be the resolution of some great mystery from my past? Who can tell? I certainly won’t.
(less)

flag

like
Comment

See all 10 answers from Shane Harrison…

Combine Editions
Shane Harrison’s books

Average rating: 4.4 · 10 ratings · 2 reviews · 5 distinct works

	Kings on the Roof 4.50 avg rating — 4 ratings — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Testimony of Virginia McCabe 4.33 avg rating — 3 ratings — published 2013 — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Benefits of Tobacco 4.50 avg rating — 2 ratings — published 2007 — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Blues Before Dawn really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 1 rating — published 1993	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Census: Issue 1 v. 1: The First Seven Towers Anthology by Kevin Higgins Paul Casey, Kevin Higgins, Eamon Carr 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings — published 2008	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

More books by Shane Harrison…

9 posts
Shane Harrison's Blog

Edinburgh - The Writers' City - 4

At the end of Grassmarket the road divides. Straight on and you pass under the bridges that buttress the Old Town. Candlemaker Row slopes upward to join George IV Bridge with the wall of Greyfriars Churchyard along one side. The Grey Friars themselves were Franciscans whose monastery was dissolved in 1560 as Scotland was gripped by the Reformation. It was a place of free assembly and The Covenante Read more of this blog post »

Like • 0 comments • flag

Published on July 30, 2023 05:22 • Tags: edinburgh, greyfriars-bobby, ian-rankin, james-hogg, muriel-spark, rebus-pub-crawl

View all 9 posts »

Shane is Currently Reading

Shane Harrison is currently reading

The Dublin Pub: A Social and Cultural History

by Donal Fallon

bookshelves: currently-reading

Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

Dec 14, 2025 09:30AM

rss
Shane’s Recent Updates

Shane Harrison is currently reading The Dublin Pub: A Social and Cultural History by Donal Fallon	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Dec 14, 2025 09:30AM · like · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of The Dublin Pub by Donal Fallon. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — The Dublin Pub by Donal Fallon <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Shane Harrison rated a book it was ok Twist by Colum McCann (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
I was initially beguiled by McCann’s fluid prose style, his wonderful way with words promising a path to a joyful reading experience. However, this charm waned before the slow reveal of a lack of substance. Okay, I join with any author pondering the ...more
Dec 14, 2025 09:25AM · like · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of Twist by Colum McCann. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — Twist by Colum McCann <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Shane Harrison rated a book liked it Wolf Hour by Jo Nesbø (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
In Norwegian this is titled Minnesota, which is the setting for the novel. An embedded murder thriller, it follows true crime narrator from Norway, tracing murders involving his kin some six years previously. The present day narrative fades far back ...more
Dec 09, 2025 11:01AM · like · see review
Shane Harrison rated a book it was amazing Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mt. Everest Disaster by Jon Krakauer (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Nov 20, 2025 11:28AM · like · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Shane Harrison started reading Wolf Hour by Jo Nesbø (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Nov 04, 2025 07:22AM · like
Shane Harrison rated a book it was ok Grey Souls by Philippe Claudel	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
All books have an ending, but some seem endless. With Dead Souls I don’t know. I didn’t get that far. It is beginningless. Halfway through and there was no sense that we had moved beyond the first scene. Hardly anything happens but that the nameless ...more
Nov 04, 2025 07:20AM · like · see review
Shane Harrison rated a book really liked it Dredgemarsh : Fire and Water by Dermot McCabe	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
The third installment in the Dredgemarsh series is an action packed conclusion to the saga. The Brooderstalt are on the march again and Dredgemarsh is ill equipped to deal with the threat. King Cesare is fighting far from home, still unaware of devel ...more
Oct 29, 2025 05:01AM · like · see review
Shane Harrison is currently reading Grey Souls by Philippe Claudel	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Oct 29, 2025 05:00AM · like
Shane Harrison rated a book really liked it Dredgemarsh : Fire and Water by Dermot McCabe	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
The third installment in the Dredgemarsh series is an action packed conclusion to the saga. The Brooderstalt are on the march again and Dredgemarsh is ill equipped to deal with the threat. King Cesare is fighting far from home, still unaware of devel ...more
Oct 29, 2025 04:56AM · like · see review
Shane Harrison rated a book really liked it The Chosen (Fredrika Bergman and Alex Recht, #5) by Kristina Ohlsson	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Two crimes centred on a Jewish community school are the focus for this gripping murder mystery set in Stockholm. One involves the killing of a teacher, the other the abduction of two young boys. Are they connected or coincidental? Kristina Bergman an ...more
Oct 21, 2025 01:34PM · like · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of The Chosen by Kristina Ohlsson. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — The Chosen by Kristina Ohlsson <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">

More of Shane's books…

Shane’s Quotes

“True happiness is to enjoy the present, without anxious dependence upon the future, not to amuse ourselves with either hopes or fears but to rest satisfied with what we have, which is sufficient, for he that is so wants nothing.”
― Seneca, Letters from a Stoic

12 likes